Harris County Dems push vote-by-mail this time

Updated 10:02 pm, Monday, October 22, 2012

The Harris County Democratic Party has, for the first time, mounted a concerted effort to get its supporters to vote by mail, hoping to match local Republicans' long-established program.

As one may expect, the parties differ on whether the push will increase Democratic turnout or whether it will result in people who would have voted in person anyway choosing to vote by mail instead.

The stakes are high this year, with a presidential race at the top of the ticket and at least 55 other races up for grabs in a county that political observers expect to be competitive, save for a few races.

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"What we see around the country is Republicans developed better mail ballot programs earlier and got a big advantage. But everybody is not stupid, so as the stakes go up with these polarized elections, parties pick up the stuff the other side is doing successfully," said University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray.

As of Friday evening, 18,808 county residents had requested a mail ballot by returning applications sent to them by the county Democratic Party, and 3,567 more had returned applications mailed to them from other Democratic sources, for a total of 22,375.

That is compared with 26,591 voters who had returned mail ballot applications sent to them by the state Republican Party.

The numbers are far closer than in previous presidential years. In 2008, Republicans requested four times as many mail ballots as Democrats, and more than five times as many in 2004.

"A lot can happen between 'I want to vote' and 'I'm going to go vote.' We hurt ourselves, grandkids come over, who knows what," said county Democratic Party Chairman Lane Lewis, who campaigned on the issue. "By running an effective vote-by-mail program, you are providing them with direct access, minimizing excuses and complications of them getting themselves to the polls and back."

County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill played down the Democrats' push, saying his group also is ramping up its mail ballot program this year.

"The Democrats are about 20 years behind us when it comes to this particular program. Obviously, there's a lot of things we've learned over the past 20 years that have helped us refine the program," he said. "It's going to be even better this cycle than it's ever been because it's the most aggressive program we've had in our history."

Must be 65 or older

About 32,500 people had requested mail ballots via nonpartisan sources as of last Friday. The number of ballots requested, at 81,471, already exceeds the 2008 total with a week left before the deadline to request ballots. To vote by mail, one must be 65 or older on Election Day, out of the county during the voting period, sick or disabled or in jail.

Lewis said the party has not implemented such a program in the past because it is expensive and time-consuming. Party officials must ensure the voter receives the ballot application, sends it to the county, receives a ballot, fills it out and submits it. Each step can require multiple "chase calls," Lewis and Woodfill said.

Helpful to parties

A strong mail ballot program can help a party increase turnout even if its new mail voters would have shown up to the polls in person anyway, said political consultant Marc Campos. The more a party's supporters vote early, Campos said, the better the party can cross them off its list and focus on getting its remaining supporters out, knocking on their doors, sending them mail or calling them.

The Democrats' mail ballot push comes at a time when county officials are nearly begging residents to vote early, hoping to lessen Election Day confusion when recent redistricting efforts will see roughly 20 percent of voters' polling locations switched.

"If you qualify to vote by mail, you can do that, or you can do it in person," said County Clerk Stan Stanart. "I encourage every person in Harris County to take advantage of that."